by Antti Tuomainen (T. David Hackston)
SYNOPSIS
Saunas, love and a ladleful of murder…
A cold-blooded killer strikes at the hottest moment: the new head of a sauna-stove company is murdered… in the sauna. Who has turned up the temperature and burned him to death? The evidence points in the direction of Anni Korpinen – top salesperson and the victim’s successor at Steam Devil.
And as if hitting middle-age, being in a marriage that has lost its purpose, and struggling with work weren’t enough, Anni realizes that she must be quicker than both the police and the murderer to uncover who is behind it all – before it’s too late…
From the international bestselling author of The Man Who Died and The Rabbit Factor, comes a darkly funny, delightfully tense new thriller that showcases humanity at its most bare – in middle age, suspected of murder and, of course, in a sauna…
REVIEW
I was so disappointed when the Rabbit Factor Trilogy ended, I had really grown to love the characters and their crazy antics, but I didn't need to worry. Obviously Antti Tuomainen has just jumped right into another bizarre, darkly comic crime caper with The Burning Stones.
At first glance, you really wouldn't think that the murder of one of the employees at a small sauna stove company could be at all captivating, but within a few pages I was totally invested in the mystery.
Shortly after being named as the new CEO of Steam Devil, Ilmo Räty is murdered in his own sauna. Unfortunately for Anni, as the next person in line for the job, suspicion falls on her as the main suspect. What follows for Anni is a race to clear her name which is hindered by a decades old rivalry between the police chief and her father, as well as an aborted engagement from 20 years earlier with police officer Janne. Arson, murder, true crime, love stories and plenty of saunas - what's not to love!
Antti Tuomainen creates some of the most unique crime novels I have ever read. There is always a place for some humour in crime fiction and his books really push that to the limit. He also has an uncanny ability of picking such random settings for a murder mystery and then creating a whole new crazy and interesting world around these unusual places. I feel like some of these ideas might put crime fiction fans off reading his books but they are honestly so ingenious, funny, have such great characters and at their core have a really dark heart which shines all of the way through the stories. I can't fault them and I am already looking forward to what he has in store next!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR & TRANSLATOR
Antti Tuomainen was an award-winning copywriter when he made his literary debut in 2007 as a suspense author. In 2011, Tuomainen’s third novel, The Healer, was awarded the Clue Award for Best Finnish Crime Novel and was shortlisted for the Glass Key Award. In 2013, the Finnish press crowned Tuomainen the ‘King of Helsinki Noir’ when Dark as My Heart was published. With a piercing and evocative style, Tuomainen was one of the first to challenge the Scandinavian crime-genre formula, and his poignant, dark and hilarious The Man Who Died became an international bestseller and has been released as a TV series, shortlisting for the Petrona and Last Laugh Awards. Palm Beach Finland (2018) was an immense success, with The Times calling Tuomainen ‘the funniest writer in Europe’, and Little Siberia (2019) was shortlisted for the Capital Crime/Amazon Publishing Readers Awards, the Last Laugh Award and the CWA International Dagger, and won the Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel. The Rabbit Factor, the prequel to The Moose Paradox and The Beaver Theory, will soon be a major motion picture starring Steve Carell for Amazon Studios.
David Hackston is a British Translator of Finnish and Swedish literature and drama. Notable publications include The Dedalus Book of Finnish Fantasy, Maria Peura’s coming-of-age novel At the Edge of Light, Johanna Sinisalo’s eco-thriller Birdbrain, two crime novels by Matti Joensuu and Kati Hiekkapelto’s Anna Fekete series (which currently includes The Hummingbird, The Defenceless and The Exiled, all published by Orenda Books). He also translates Antti Tuomainen’s stories. In 2007 he was awarded the Finnish State Prize for Translation. David is also a professional countertenor and a founding member of the English Vocal Consort of Helsinki. Follow David on Twitter @Countertenorist
Thanks to Anne Cater - @RandomTTours, Antti Tuomainen - @antti_tuomainen and Orenda Books - @OrendaBooks for the opportunity to read and review.
Fiction: Crime Fiction / Translated Crime Fiction / Finland / Comic Crime
Publisher: Orenda Books
ISBN: 978-1916788329
Pages: 276pp
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